ShowSight January 2019

ShowSight Interviews: Daryl Martin

BY ALLAN REZNIK continued

background in what the dogs were orig- inally and how Maltese have developed. That is probably why I am so adamant about breeding to the standard. 4. Your Maltese are internation- ally known, highly successful and well respected. What breeding phi- losophies do you adhere to? The first and most important point is adhering to our AKC standard. It describes what our breed is supposed to be. It is so important to use that as your guideline. So many people breed for their own preferences and not neces- sarily what is called for in our standard. I think since we started with what, to our eye, were mediocre dogs (although they were much better than what the average breeders or owners had), I know where my dogs are superior to many others. (No one would sell my mother a great dog originally because they were afraid we would incorporate their dogs into our breeding program and beat them in the ring.) The reason is honesty. Too many people today keep changing their bloodlines or breed to this dog or that dog with no idea what is behind them. You have to know what is behind your dog for many

generations. I linebreed, or breed same type to same type. I like families of dogs, not a helter skelter approach. You can’t just breed to a dog that has what your bitch is lacking. Today’s problem is a lack of “families of dogs” in the breed. 5. How many Maltese do you typically house? Tell us about your facilities and how the dogs are maintained. Through the years, I have really had very few litters of dogs. For many years, I had dogs I didn’t show due to com- mitments made to my clients. I never competed with my clients’ dogs; my cli- ents always came first. For many years I also skipped bitches as I missed their

seasons while I was on the road, or didn’t breed them, knowing I couldn’t take proper care of the litters during many of my clients’ dogs’ campaigns. I also was very critical of my own dogs, but as they got older without having been bred, I would look at them and think: they are really good dogs, what a shame. I never bred dogs to make records, or to sell them as an addition to my income. Over the years I have kept littermates, as I find the one you really like the best as a dog for some reason doesn’t do the reproducing that the more common one does. I have my dogs in my home; I do not have a ken- nel as such. The dogs are kept in pens. I do not crate my dogs; everyone has a buddy, they love to play with each other and keep each other company. 6. Who were/are some of your most significant dogs, in the whelp- ing box and in the show ring? My first really top producer was Ch. Martin’s Sweet Bean Puff. While he was not a Group winner and never specialed, he produced many champi- ons and Group winners. His name is behind some of the significant dogs in other pedigrees. One of his daughters,

184 • S how S ight M agazine , J anuary 2019

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